White will be responsible for supporting the global growth of Ford’s battery manufacturing capabilities and will report directly to Executive Director Global Battery Manufacturing, Indy Singh

Chris White

Chris White – Ford

White previously held the position of Manager EU electrification and has nearly three decades of experience in powertrain manufacturing at Ford Motor Company. He has been responsible for a team working on manufacturing processes for electrified powertrains also working with Ford’s global manufacturing engineering team for alignment on powertrain manufacturing in Europe.

He has led several consortium projects, including E-Prime, a project with machine tool supply chain partners to develop process and equipment for production of next generation electrified powertrain systems.

In his new role he will be leading the set-up of the Battery Engineering organisation to build up capability for battery cell manufacturing and pack assembly systems in Europe. In addition, he will be responsible for implementing the OEM’s global strategy for battery manufacturing engineering and developing leading edge manufacturing processes, equipment and methods.

As part of its transition to building electric vehicles (EVs) Ford has invested heavily in its European operations with €2 billion being spent on transforming its Cologne plant in Germany. The facility will be equipped with a new production line, battery assembly and tooling and automation, and will have an annual production capacity of more than 250,000 EVs. The first EV set to be produced in the plant is Ford’s new Explorer model.